2018 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

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Bad Gopher said:
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This is very disappointing to me. What a total lack of enthusiasm and future orientation. There's some talent down there that I personally would like to see, as much of a bummer as it's been to lose these well-liked and familiar players. I'll say it: it feels to me like Paul thinks he's bigger than the organization and has a hard time humbling himself to work within a power structure where he has to answer to people who are younger than him and who have never played in the bigs, much less don't have a bust in the Hall of Fame.
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I'm convinced Belisle is on the team only because Molitor wants him.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I'm convinced Belisle is on the team only because Molitor wants him.
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Falvine should release Belisle, Bobby Wilson and Grossman immediately. We don't need to be wasting AB's/innings on terrible veterans who won't be on the team next year. I think Molitor is gone after this year, and it's for the best. He's a good manager for a veteran team, but not for this team.
 

howeda7 said:
Falvine should release Belisle, Bobby Wilson and Grossman immediately. We don't need to be wasting AB's/innings on terrible veterans who won't be on the team next year.
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Yep at this point call up young guys, let them play, let them make mistakes and learn and get the experience. As a fan I'd rather see that even if it's bad.
 

bottlebass said:
Yep at this point call up young guys, let them play, let them make mistakes and learn and get the experience. As a fan I'd rather see that even if it's bad.
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Not only that, but Ausin is better than Grossman, Astudillo is a far better hitter than Wilson and any one of Duffy/Busenitz etc. would be better than Belisle.
 

Belisle has now given up 16 runs in 17.2 innings with the Twins this year. Given up 31 hits, has a WHIP over 2. Makes no sense.
 


My steak of going to a game and Gibson is pitching and watching them loose remains undefeated. Boy I am glad we got him instead of trout.
 

monk10 said:
My steak of going to a game and Gibson is pitching and watching them loose remains undefeated. Boy I am glad we got him instead of trout.
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To be fair to Gibson, he hasn't gotten much run support this season.
 

bottlebass said:
Yep at this point call up young guys, let them play, let them make mistakes and learn and get the experience. As a fan I'd rather see that even if it's bad.
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Upper management for the Twins may not want to get the clock started on their Major League playing time.
 

Olney: Grading the 2018 trade deadline for all 30 teams - ESPN

Minnesota Twins: B-plus.

The Twins became the great trade deadline outlier last year when they suddenly got hot after the front office had sold off some assets. The Twins were not swayed by that recent history, and rather than try to prop up ridiculously small odds to make the postseason, they went almost all-in on a selloff of short-term assets -- second baseman Dozier, reliever Zach Duke, infielder Escobar. Which was the right thing to do.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/sto...-grading-2018-trade-deadline-all-30-mlb-teams
 



Bad Gopher said:
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This is very disappointing to me. What a total lack of enthusiasm and future orientation. There's some talent down there that I personally would like to see, as much of a bummer as it's been to lose these well-liked and familiar players. I'll say it: it feels to me like Paul thinks he's bigger than the organization and has a hard time humbling himself to work within a power structure where he has to answer to people who are younger than him and who have never played in the bigs, much less don't have a bust in the Hall of Fame.
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wouldn't be the first time a manager and the front office had different agendas. The manager is trying to win games. In some cases, trying to win games and keep his job. meanwhile, the front office is looking 3-4-5 years down the road. and - as far as AAA prospects - go take a look at Rochester's stats. Nobody is having a big year at the plate. Nick Gordon is hitting .219. The best pitchers for the most part are guys that have been up-and-down this year, like Busenitz. The one AAA pitcher who might be ready for a call-up is Gonsalves - and I'll bet he comes up in September when they expand the rosters.
But for August, really no reason to bring somebody up - because no one at Rochester has earned a call-up with their play.
 

WoodburyTim said:
I agree with the moves in general as we weren't keeping these guys and weren't going to win this year, but I don't know what evidence we have yet that Falvey and Levine are getting "the best players" we could for them. Everybody who exists in the Twins stratosphere makes these moves at the deadline, some have a record getting the better prospects than others. Our group has almost no history and the little they do have do not point to striking gold. It will be interesting to follow these guys in the next few years and see if any of these guys pan out. OVerall though, yeah you gotta make these moves.
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Question, are the draft picks that Falvey and Levine have made even ready for the majors? Aren't most of the people in the Twins system draft picks of the former regime? All that our new GM should be responsible for is the past two drafts and whatever trades/acquisitions that have recently been made.
Is there enough evidence to even determine how well the present regime is doing?
 

I just noticed that the Dodgers were on tonight and wanted to see how Dozier was doing. Switched over and he hit the first pitch I saw for a HR. Curtain call already in his first game.
 

per Sid:

Stalled development

Maybe the toughest part of this year for the Twins has been the lack of progress for Buxton and Sano.

Buxton might be shelved for the season after another wrist injury and he could enter 2019 as a 25-year-old with a career .230 average in 306 major league games.

“He does have a strain,” Molitor said. “We can’t afford to let him try to play through that, so we’re going to shut him down here for the next seven to 10 days and reevaluate and see if we can get him back on the field.”

Meanwhile, Sano was so undisciplined he went to Fort Myers for a baseball and personal rehab.

Molitor is hoping Sano’s recent play — four hits, including two doubles, in the Cleveland series — shows he is on the right track.

The Twins will start 2019 in a much different place than they did in 2018. Instead of thinking playoffs, they’ll be thinking rebuild.

http://www.startribune.com/twins-goal-of-making-playoffs-turns-into-rebuilding-plan/489821421/

Win Twins!!
 



tikited said:
I just noticed that the Dodgers were on tonight and wanted to see how Dozier was doing. Switched over and he hit the first pitch I saw for a HR. Curtain call already in his first game.
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Boy, that was a meatball pitch. Could be he has better protection in that lineup than he had here.
 


Have to say, Sano hit a double on Monday that would never had been an extra base hit before he dropped 30.
 




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I hope Brian's having the time of his life. The whole Twins situation has felt so uphill for so long - for the players and fans alike - that it's probably a revelation for him to be in a situation where they truly have a chance, that it's not a pipe dream.

Edit: something just occurred to me. There's probably a way to look this up, but I'm just going to speculate that it's likely the Twins have the worst record in MLB during Dozier's major league career. If so, it's likely he's lost more games than any other player in the majors during that time. Just thinking about that wears me out.
 
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JimmyJamesMD said:
Is it because of low altitude? I noticed that CF isn't even 400 feet.
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395 isn't bad. Do know that while the power alley (375ft) and down the line (330) dimensions are pretty normal that 330 down the line jumps out to 360 really quickly.
 

Bad Gopher said:
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I hope Brian's having the time of his life. The whole Twins situation has felt so uphill for so long - for the players and fans alike - that it's probably a revelation for him to be in a situation where they truly have a chance, that it's not a pipe dream.

Edit: something just occurred to me. There's probably a way to look this up, but I'm just going to speculate that it's likely the Twins have the worst record in MLB during Dozier's major league career. If so, it's likely he's lost more games than any other player in the majors during that time. Just thinking about that wears me out.
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Unlikely. He wasn't on the roster for the 2011 disaster, only 2016. They had two winning seasons out of the 6 full seasons he was with the team.
 

howeda7 said:
Unlikely. He wasn't on the roster for the 2011 disaster, only 2016. They had two winning seasons out of the 6 full seasons he was with the team.
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Its a possibility still, on KFAN today they did say since Target field opened the twins have the worst record in all of baseball. Although missing 2011 may help him in that category.
 

bottlebass said:
Its a possibility still, on KFAN today they did say since Target field opened the twins have the worst record in all of baseball. Although missing 2011 may help him in that category.
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That's where I was coming from. 2010 and 2011 sort of cancel each other out, and you're still left with 2012-2018.
 

Bad Gopher said:
That's where I was coming from. 2010 and 2011 sort of cancel each other out, and you're still left with 2012-2018.
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You could be right. Off the top of my head, the only candidates who might have worse records would be the Marlins, White Sox, Reds and Padres.
 

One way or another, a lot of dang losing for the guy. At least Mauer got in some winning before the thing turned south.
 

Sid: Derek Falvey maintains his long-term vision to improve Twins

Twins Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey said that while fans and players might be upset about their trade deadline deals, he knows he was brought in to change the organization for the better, and that’s what he and General Manager Thad Levine are going to do.

“I certainly can appreciate the perspective of the fans. Any time you trade away major league players who are impacting you right now, it’s tough,” Falvey said Tuesday. “But I think our job as leadership of this organization, and my job in particular around baseball, is to find opportunities to make this organization better moving forward, not just for now but in the future. We feel we did that over this deadline.”

There is no question that Falvey’s tenure in his two seasons has been aggressive.

Since arriving after the 2016 season, Falvey has made 15 trades, including eight this season and five at the trade deadline. Compare that to the eight trades the Twins made from the start of 2015 until Falvey’s arrival, when Terry Ryan was the GM before being fired in July 2016 and replaced on an interim basis by Rob Antony.

While there weren’t any big-name prospects acquired in the five July trades — to be expected since four of the players dealt will be free agents after the season — Falvey sees a lot of potential.

“I think the jewel of what we got back was the high-upside pitching,” he said. “I think that we’ve acquired at least two guys in these trades that we think have the chance to be upper-end starters in Jhoan Duran, who carried a no-hitter in Cedar Rapids into the seventh [Monday] who has real power stuff, and then Jorge Alcala, who is now one of our top prospects in terms of pitching at the Double-A level. Some impact, power arms. That’s what we’re going to need to compete with the best in the league.”

http://www.startribune.com/derek-falvey-maintains-his-long-term-vision-to-improve-twins/489938391/

Win Twins!!
 

Sid:

Looking to the future

Now that the Twins front office is looking toward next year, there is no question it’s going to be an exciting and wide-open offseason.

Neither Ervin Santana nor Logan Morrison figures to have his 2019 vesting options guaranteed, and the Twins figure to enter the offseason with less than $29 million in guaranteed payroll for four players — and that’s if they pick up the $4.25 million option on closer Fernando Rodney. The only other players signed for next year are catcher Jason Castro and righthanders Addison Reed and Michael Pineda.

Falvey was asked if that means the team will have a lot of free-agent movement.

“With the blessing of the Pohlad family, we have had real opportunities in the free-agent market over the last year-plus,” Falvey said. “I anticipate with some of the expiring contracts that we have and the flexibility that we have around payroll, we’re going to be creative in this free-agent market and see what opportunities present.”

And there is no doubt one move Falvey wants to make is bringing back Joe Mauer.

http://www.startribune.com/derek-falvey-maintains-his-long-term-vision-to-improve-twins/489938391/

Win Twins!!
 

BleedGopher said:
Sid:

Looking to the future

Now that the Twins front office is looking toward next year, there is no question it’s going to be an exciting and wide-open offseason.

Neither Ervin Santana nor Logan Morrison figures to have his 2019 vesting options guaranteed, and the Twins figure to enter the offseason with less than $29 million in guaranteed payroll for four players — and that’s if they pick up the $4.25 million option on closer Fernando Rodney. The only other players signed for next year are catcher Jason Castro and righthanders Addison Reed and Michael Pineda.

Falvey was asked if that means the team will have a lot of free-agent movement.

“With the blessing of the Pohlad family, we have had real opportunities in the free-agent market over the last year-plus,” Falvey said. “I anticipate with some of the expiring contracts that we have and the flexibility that we have around payroll, we’re going to be creative in this free-agent market and see what opportunities present.”

And there is no doubt one move Falvey wants to make is bringing back Joe Mauer.

http://www.startribune.com/derek-falvey-maintains-his-long-term-vision-to-improve-twins/489938391/

Win Twins!!
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The Joe Mauer comment at the end...................Is that Sid talk or did Falvey actually make that point?

Didnt know about Morrison's vesting option, which is good news. Thought it was a player option.

They will have a ridiculous amount of cap room next season. Hope they continue to build within and spend wisely. Yankees learned that the hard way in the 2000's
 

JimmyJamesMD said:
The Joe Mauer comment at the end...................Is that Sid talk or did Falvey actually make that point?

Didnt know about Morrison's vesting option, which is good news. Thought it was a player option.

They will have a ridiculous amount of cap room next season. Hope they continue to build within and spend wisely. Yankees learned that the hard way in the 2000's
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Agree. Going drunken sailor on this would cause more harm than good.
 

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